


Ambigram

by magicasen



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: Action/Adventure, All-New All-Different Avengers Vol. 1 (2015), Avengers Vol. 1 (1963), De-Serumed Steve Rogers, M/M, Pining, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:14:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24768325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicasen/pseuds/magicasen
Summary: Steve's lost the serum. Steve's not an Avenger anymore. Steve's supposed to be past these types of missions, even if he'll never say no to punching Hydra goons in the face. But if the Avengers need him, Steve will answer their call.But then an unexpected visitor from the past joins the fray. Steve's past self has lots of things to say: about the future, the team, and Steve's relationship with Tony.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 25
Kudos: 116





	Ambigram

**Author's Note:**

> Happy 616 Day! Sliding just in under the deadline, because it's still 6/16 in Hawaii! 
> 
> This is an old and obviously jossed hard by canon fic. I originally started writing it in early 2016 based on comic previews of Avengers Standoff/Pleasant Hill. I was fine with being jossed by actual canon, and then Spencer started coming out with his Cap run/Hydra Cap later that year and I lost motivation for writing this. Anyway, there is no Hydra Cap at all in this fic. What you need to know is that Steve is old, not on the Avengers, and has complicated feelings about this (and Tony ;)!)
> 
> Also, here's my original A/N that was on my fic file: 
> 
> Vaguely Standoff-inspired, as in I saw all the promos and the incongruity of all the characters who are supposed to be showing up and concluded “TIME TRAVEL!” Nothing else matches up though because man, S.H.I.E.L.D. mystery and Avengers fighting each other and Commander Rogers and Bucky Cap and ??? there's so much going on!

It was times like these Steve missed his shield.

“Is _this_ who the Americans are sending in, now?” the agent hissed, squeezing the trigger. “Pathetic! Hydra will reign supreme!”

Not that he would need the shield here—his opponent couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. The agent doubled over Steve's fist and crumbled unceremoniously to the street, next to a campaign sign for Pleasant Hill mayoral candidate. _Al's your pal!_

Steve rolled his shoulder, suppressing a wince as he kneaded at the sore muscles.

And that was why he no longer carried the shield. He wasn't cut out for this sort of thing anymore. Anyone who had been through Steve’s regimen would never be _out_ of shape, but now that Steve was deserumed and his body matched his years, he’d never be anyone’s first choice to call into the field.

But, in the end, you did what you had to do with what was on hand, and if that included sending men who qualified for the senior discount into the field, then so be it. Thus, Steve had upgraded himself in rapid succession from handler to support to punching his way through Hydra infested small-town America. That was how he had ended up here, with—

“Avengers!” Sam's voice came through the comms. “Report in.” After the cursory replies, he spoke again. “Iron Man?”

“Yeah, Cap?”

Steve didn't startle at the nickname. He hadn't been Cap for months, now, no matter that Wade still slipped up and used it every so often.

“You notice how these goons are all over the place?”

“Dumber than usual, you mean? I did.” Tony went silent for a moment, before speaking up again. “One just called me a time traveling murder bot. Right before I blasted him in the face. Have to say, the first bit is new.”

“They have no coordination,” Sam added. “They're fighting like they don't even realize there are others around. And one asked me where the real Captain America was, and who’d let someone like me wear these colors. He took a dive into the deep end of the community pool for that one.”

“So what,” went Miles. “Were they all hit in the head? Maybe Pleasant Hill's secret is that it makes everyone go nuts and lose a couple of years?”

“There's something in the water?” Kamala asked.

“Mind control works when you can get them all on the same page,” Sam replied. “Like a hivemind. Not knowing what year it is would be counter-productive. I'm thinking it's something else, and this something else went badly.” His voice trailed off.

“Time travel?” Tony supplied.

“Time travel,” Sam agreed reluctantly.

“ _Time travel!?_ ” Nova's voice went high. Steve was mildly surprised it didn't crack.

“Welcome to the big leagues, kids,” said Thor, followed by a crack of thunder overhead.

“Captain, are you proposing someone is pulling Hydra agents out of the timestream and dropping them in Pleasant Hill?” said Vision. “That's inefficient.”

“Would explain why they just—don't—stop—coming!” panted Kamala.

Steve hadn't seen a Hydra agent around for the past several minutes. Considering how everyone else sounded, he was the exception.

“But who? And why? And how?” Nova asked.

“Hydra, because Hydra, and we're going to figure the last one out,” said Sam. “Vision, where in a town like this could someone pull this off?”

“There aren't any areas which should contain the technology, resources, or energy allotment for such an endeavor.”

“Never mind that for now. What about space?”

“Indoor capacity would indicate the high school foremost, and then the community center closeby. The gymnasium at the school is currently closed due to renovations.”

“Doesn't sound fishy at all, huh. Iron Man and Vision,” Sam called. “Head over and see what you can find. Thor, I want you to maintain a perimeter around the area. Everyone else, we'll cover the exits to town. I want no one getting in _or_ out until we know that we can send Hydra back where they came from.”

“Roger, Cap,” Steve said only after everyone else had affirmed Sam's orders.

“We're going to be stretched thin,” Sam continued. “And they can show up at any moment. Watch yourselves.”

“They're years-past-expiry Hydra agents,” Tony added in reassurance. “Practically the PeeWee's Playhouse version of our training simulators.”

Sam cleared his throat loudly.

“But there's never anything wrong with being vigilant!” Tony added in a rush.

There were words on the tip of Steve's tongue, but he held them. Not his place, not anymore. The rest of the team had gone silent in the meantime.

Steve was intensely grateful for whoever it was who had thrown the wrench in this plan, evacuated the town, and tipped off the Avengers. It was all too easy to contemplate the alternatives. Steve had a moment's contemplation of horror; if this town had, on a ordinary weekday afternoon, become teeming with Hydra agents...

Speaking of which, still no Hydra in sight. Something wasn't right. The bright green and yellow suits were enough to know that these Hydra were far from the pinnacle of stealth.

“You know, when I inherited your title,” Sam began as Steve turned a corner.

“And my shield,” Steve added, unsure. Upon checking, he realized Sam had used the private comm. What did he want from him?

“And your shield,” Sam punctuated, “I didn't want to inherit your crazy Nazis, too.”

“You got a good team,” Steve pointed out gruffly. “Cuter than mine. All the children. _Literal_ children.”

Sam didn't respond to the disapproval. “And the work spouse,” he muttered instead, loud enough that Steve could pick it up even without any enhanced hearing. Steve raised his fingers to the earpiece. _The work spouse?_

Before Steve could respond, a loud burst of static cut the conversation short. Steve tried not to frown too deeply. His frown had a markedly different effect after losing the serum. _Grumpy old man,_ Carol had confirmed once as she wiped tears of mirth from her eyes.

Fact of the matter was, him and Sam weren't exactly on friendly speaking terms at the moment. Neither were him and Tony. Once, bantering on private comms would have been par the course for Steve with those two, though it seemed they were having enough fun on their own.

“Sunny Lane is contained,” said Steve over the team comms as he squinted up at the road signs at the corner. Why couldn't everywhere follow New York's grid system for numbering streets?

Halfway down the next street, there was a thud behind him, and Steve ducked, slamming his Avengers alert at the same instant. Something sailed over his head, but that didn't matter as much as the man in front of him, catching the—

Steve fell back, flailing his arm behind him in the exact way he'd drilled into everyone never to do. The concrete scraped against his fingers as Steve kicked out with his foot. The man jumped back, faster than any regular human. Steve had no room for error anymore.

He jerked back and rolled before he could get cleaved in half, not letting himself stop and fully expecting to be forced to. His opponent didn't pursue, meaning they were holding back. Wrong move. Steve leapt back to his feet, drawing his gun out of its holster in the same motion. The man froze for a split second as their eyes met, and Steve's first shot hit his left shoulder. That didn't stop the man from deflecting the rest of the shots.

Very few things were capable of holding up against the S.H.I.E.L.D. produced rayguns.

Steve finally tore himself from the man's eyes, looked down, and found himself facing a familiar large, white star inset in red and blue circular stripes.

“You have to be fucking with me.” Steve shifted the grip on his gun, but he didn't chance firing any more bullets. When he removed his finger from the trigger, the man holding the shield peered over its edge.

The other Steve Rogers – scale-mail and head wings but loudest of all the blazing, wholesome determination, narrowed his eyes. “Is Hydra that desperate now, recruiting geriatrics?”

Steve followed his gaze, looking down at himself and biting back the wry smile that threatened to break out. “You know exactly who Hydra considers worthy of their brave new world. You really think I'm with them?”

He watched how Rogers shifted, favoring his left shoulder. He didn't do a bad job of hiding it, but Steve knew what to watch for. Steve eyed the scalemail and tights, trying to pin down exactly when he'd last worn that set. Early on as an Avenger, he hazarded, which had to be why Rogers wasn't _too_ dazed by time travel.

Steve allowed himself to be scrutinized in turn. What did Rogers see in him? Steve didn't know how to answer the same question, and even if he could, he didn't want to linger on it. Steve never had any good answers to that hypothetical question: i _f you could tell your younger self one thing..._

“You're not with them,” Rogers concluded with no room for argument.

“If I ever am, I would turn this,” Steve waved the gun, “back on myself.” He lowered the weapon.

Rogers's eyes still bore a hole into Steve. “Then who are you?” The hesitation told plain as words that he wasn't as unsure of the answer as the question suggested.

“I'm—” Steve paused. “Captain Steve Rogers.” He doubted there was any point in withholding the truth.

“Ah.” His counterpart was doing an admirable job of keeping an unaffected face, but Steve knew what to look for.

“Not exactly what you expected.”

Rogers hesitated for an instant. “I didn't realize I had ended up so far into the future.” His voice betrayed his steadfast confidence, brittle on the final word. “Especially since there's been speculation that my aging would be delayed.”

“We're not as far out as you think. I've only been out of the ice for just over a decade.” Let him make some sense of that.

Rogers frowned, his surface-level impassivity gaining more cracks as he struggled between his future looking like, well, Steve did, and the obvious relief at not being quite so far removed in time this go-around. Poor bastard must be fresh out of the ice.

“This little change isn’t natural. You'll…meet your fair share of villains,” Steve finally offered in explanation, which didn't seem to placate Rogers. “Speaking of which, stunts like what you just pulled would get you killed. You should already know you'll never get away with any hesitation in a fight, no matter what they look like.”

“Well, _you_ weren't a bad guy, were you?” Rogers retorted.

“No, and good for you, we know more about timestreams now, enough to get you home.” That got a reaction out of Rogers, a slight, quick grin. Steve continued. “The question before that is who brought you here, and why.”

 _“—Steve!_ Come in! _”_

“Yes?” Steve responded automatically, tapped his ear. “That took long enough. I sent out an alert minutes ago – ”

“What? No, you just sent it!”

“I'm old, not senile,” and before anyone could argue that point, “anyway, I'm calling the alert off. I'm fi –safe.” That won him a sharp look from Rogers, but it's not like Steve wasn't telling the truth there. “Fill me in,” Steve added, _while I think of how to explain this._

“I am still analyzing the data, but between Captain Rogers's communications delay and what Iron Man and I have already uncovered here corroborates our hypothesis,” supplied Vision. “The temporal anomalies aren't specific to one area, but to the town in general. For us, Captain Rogers, you have not been using the comms since you confirmed the status of Sunny Lane twenty-two seconds ago.”

“It’s been at least a few minutes on my end,” Steve confirmed. “And also, I think the Hydra agents are from a little over a decade ago.” The evidence was frowning at Steve even now.

“Vision, take a look at their tech and see if that matches up.” Sam cleared his throat. “And if our team communications are out of sync, we can't have anyone left on their own. Thor, can you go join Captain Rogers?”

“I'll be there soon, Steve,” Thor promised.

“Wait!” Steve barked. “Not yet.”

“I thought you were fine?” Thor asked.

“I'm _safe._ There's...a situation here. Involving one of the temporal anomalies.”

Steve resolutely ignored Rogers’s increasingly put-off expression. Steve jerked his chin at him, and Rogers scowled back. “They're a friendly, but I don't recommend exposing them to everything that's changed off the bat.”

Meeting an older version of himself was one thing already, but how much could his younger self find out about the rest of the future? A new Captain America, a new Thor. Jan and Hank weren't superhero-ing, and Steve couldn't place whether the original team had even disbanded for the first time yet for his younger self.

“Does that mean they're someone we know? An Avenger?” At least Kamala was excited.

“Which one?” Miles asked.

There was still one person...

“Send me Iron Man.”

“Iron Man?” Sam didn't sound happy about that.

“I'll be right there,” Tony confirmed. “Stay there, Steve, and don't stare down our friendly too much.”

Steve didn't reckon that would work in this case. People had described in detail about how his Cap look and his Cap voice worked (“patent it,” Johnny Storm had suggested), but from the markedly displeased, half-demanding looks Rogers aimed at him, Steve didn't feel anything other than bone-tired.

Rogers, quickly picking up that any unspoken demands wouldn't be answered, leaned back, an odd sense of expectation between them. “Everything that's changed?”

Steve didn't reply.

“So if we're about ten years out,” Rogers ventured, “then does that mean the others are still around?”

“They are.” In a sense.

Rogers's eyes lit up, hope replacing doubt. It was remarkable, the difference between waking up in the future alone or with your team. 

In retrospect, the best thing possible happened to Steve in being found by the Avengers. They were a team gathered to fight the foes no single one of them could withstand. He belonged with them, even if he didn't fit in their time. What if he had been found by the government, instead? Could they have had such upstanding motives?

The sound of repulsors made Steve turn his head. He was still getting used to Tony's new armor. Tony was back to the familiar red and gold, but it was sleeker, shinier, newer. It seemed the older they grew, the faster Tony went. Meanwhile, Steve's fallback old man jokes had grown steadily blacker.

Tony whistled low, heard only by Steve through his earpiece, as he descended.

“Well, hello there, Steve. And Cap.”

Rogers was staring at Tony, dumbstruck. The voice modulation had vastly changed over the years. Tony's voice was now clearer and distinctly _Tony_. It must be nowhere close to how Iron Man sounded for Rogers.

“You—” Rogers's eyes slid over the armor. “You're my Iron Man, right?” Steve gaped.

“That I am.” An unaffected Tony did an entirely unnecessary loop around them before he landed besides Steve, who resisted rolling his eyes upward. “Glad you know who I am.”

For the first time, Steve saw his counterpart break into a wide smile. “Well, then I'm glad to see you're still in business, Shellhead.”

“Ah.” _Now_ he was taken aback. Steve could just imagine how the grin would spread across Tony's face behind the faceplate. “You're just as I remember you, Winghead.”

Steve became very aware of his lack of cowl. “Tony,” he interrupted.

“Tony?” Rogers echoed blankly, before glancing over at Steve. “You know his name?”

“So do you—” Steve cut himself off abruptly. Tony made a high-pitched hitching noise, raising an arm and aborting the motion, his equivalent to flinching.

It _was_ embarrassing to think about now, even for Steve. That secret identity Iron Man had maintained for their first years on the team. _Years._ It wasn't only Tony back then–there had been Thor and Donald Blake, and even Hank and Jan had kept up the pretense of secret identities. It was surreal to recall how it worked back then. Now it was second nature, to know the names of every single person under their mask. It had become important to Steve to be able to see his friends' faces.

But the secret identity had been important to Tony, at least back then, so Steve spoke up. “You don't have to—”

“Nah, the gig's already up, Steve. He heard what you called me.” The faceplate slid back, and Tony already had his most winning smile on. “Hey, Cap.”

Rogers' eyes grew wide, and Steve heard him inhale sharply.

Steve tried to think of the Tony Stark from back then. What he knew of him: the distant Avengers benefactor, always kind to Steve, but rarely seen despite owning the mansion he resided in.

They'd been friends, yes. He'd been led around by Mr. Stark at the beginning, introduced to his new world, the future and fame and luxury. He'd trained Mr. Stark in hand-to-hand combat.

But that was different from Iron Man. Iron Man was...he'd confessed things to Iron Man, lulled into a sense of security and impulsiveness by sleepless nights and bad dreams. Fears, insecurities, regrets more insidious than the ice. In return, Iron Man had told him about himself, why he was fighting, what he had to make up for, the tales offered with hesitation, like he was afraid it would lessen Steve's opinion of him. It never did. Steve fought alongside Iron Man from the start, and Iron Man knew Captain America and Steve Rogers in equal part.

It wasn't like Steve could have understood then, that Iron Man's guilt was Mr. Stark's. He'd told Mr. Stark that he'd given him a home, but he didn't know that it was Tony who had _been_ his home.

Steve tried to see Tony now, without the years in-between. While he was confident Tony must look different somehow, he couldn't imagine how when Tony was right there. He could only focus on the here and now. Tony was...he was undeniably attractive, magnetic in the fullest sense. Maybe that had changed, because back then Tony had seemed someone to behold and admire, but now he was the person who would draw you in, with the promise of understanding and attention and _fun_.

Tony's gaze flickered over to him, and Steve blinked, suddenly self-conscious at being caught staring. At least he wasn't doing any worse than his other self, with Rogers still struck speechless. Steve peered at him. He hadn't been _that_ shocked when Iron Man had been revealed to be Tony Stark. It had made a lot of sense, in retrospect.

Then Rogers licked his lips, just a bare darting out of the tongue, and Steve's stomach lurched.

“Hi, Mr. Stark,” Rogers finally said weakly. 

Tony blinked. “Well, that's a throwback. Call me Tony.”

“Okay then. Hi, Tony,” Rogers said, and Steve hoped Tony couldn't hear the daze in his voice. “I assumed being in this business aged people faster.”

Tony looked slightly chagrined as he exchanged a glance with Steve. “That's not much of a sampling. Things happen to you a lot. Things happen to everyone a lot. There _was_ that time I was a teenager, in fact...”

“Don't be too wary of how I look now,” said Steve, indicating with a hand what he meant. “It's happened more than once. If things work out, I'll be back to normal, sooner or later.”

“You're normal now,” Tony said flatly.

Steve ignored him and heard his counterpart take in a breath.

“So, the Iron Man I know is...Tony Stark,” Rogers said, testing it out.

“We all have our own ways of dealing with the superhero-civilian identity divide.” Tony aimed a dazzling smile at Rogers, the sort of which Steve hadn't seen in a while. It didn't work on him anymore was why, Steve thought. He'd gotten too used to Tony and how he could make everything seem so easy. He was like a breeze of fresh air, soaring without looking down. Once, the thought had taken his breath away. Now, Steve prepared himself to be taken along for the ride.

“Speaking of which,” Tony continued, “how are you faring? I remember how you felt back then, which is...now, for you. This isn't too much, too fast?”

“Ten years ago for me, I couldn’t have even imagined superheroes existed.” Rogers shrugged a shoulder. “If anything, I'm just glad the Avengers are still around.”

“So am I.” Tony smiled again. Steve looked away, putting two fingers to his earpiece.

“Oh, right, I have to report in.” Tony nodded at Steve. “Excuse me.” The faceplate slid back down. Rogers seemed disconcerted. His Tony still had eye sockets.

Regardless, there was a slight flush on Rogers's cheeks. Steve didn't want to keep looking. Had he really been like that around Iron Man?

He'd almost up and forgotten it himself, but then again, he didn't like to dwell on the old crush. That was all it had come to in the end: infatuation. Even now, thinking of how much he had craved Iron Man's attention, and how any time spent together, especially alone, had been snuck away, bright spots of the day to be combed over and over until the memories had become worn with the familiar warmth of comfort. A crush, and one Steve had handled well enough externally, but the idea that he had let his feelings for his teammate become one of the axes his early life in the future had revolved around made his neck flush.

He’d been young and fresh out of the ice. He’d latched onto anything that could make it more bearable. Tony had affected him so much, back then. Now…Steve didn't like someone having that much power over him.

Steve could hear Tony filling the team in through the comms. That gave Steve the opportunity to assess Rogers, who couldn’t hear anything from behind Iron Man’s helmet or the comms. His counterpart was too open with his emotions. There was no need for Steve to search for signs of ill ease or familiar tics. Even Tony should be able to tell.

Steve's cheeks grew hot. Would he? Did Tony notice how Rogers looked around him? Had he noticed, back then, how Steve had been?

Just another reason to not think about it. Steve had heard the rumors about Tony's open preferences, everyone had, but there were so many other rumors about Tony, many of which Steve had debunked himself.

If Tony had known back then about Steve’s crush, then he would have also realized that things had changed by now. They were good friends most of the time. The rest of the times were ones Steve would rather not recall.

“Captain Rogers has a point,” Sam was saying. “So he knows that he's still alive in the future, and Iron Man is still Iron Man. That shouldn't change any of his past actions. Which is important because—?”

“No meddling in the time stream, we know, we heard!” answered Kamala.

“Yeah, I already knew that from video games,” Nova said.

“Comics,” Miles added.

“You learned it?” Kamala sounded incredulous. “Isn't it obvious?”

“Well, we don't want you to have to learn it from real life,” Sam said. “There's no easy reset button there.”

“It can get tempting,” Tony added. “Sure, by changing the past you're messing with the future, but the change has to be for the better, doesn't it? There are a lot of people we could save. Should have saved.” Tony paused, and no one interrupted. “Anyway, you tell yourself that, it's suddenly much harder to remember, and then we’re all Kang the Conquerors. But no worries, we'll keep a eye on him, Cap.”

“Right. Status update, Vision?” asked Sam.

“From examining the data...I believe we've 'dodged the bullet'. Or, more probable, someone shielded us from it. It appears the residents of Pleasant Hill were meant to become vessels for the Hydra agents to swap with.”

Steve inhaled sharply.

“Whoa, wait, for every Hydra we've fought, there's someone in their place stuck in the past?”

“I would hazard a negative, Spider-Man,” replied Vision. “The plan should have been to displace the town's population all at once. Luckily, the preemptive evacuation of the town prevented such a course of action. Now, they have to be pulled through manually instead of all at once.”

“Do we know who ordered the evacuation, yet?” Sam asked.

“There's footage. They're a group of reformed super-villains, led by a familiar old face,” Thor said, a hint of amusement in her voice. “They call themselves the Thunderbolts. But I think it's safer to call them heroes by this point.”

Sam snorted. “Figures. That guy likes to be the dramatic hero, so long as no one else finds out.”

Steve settled for a wry smile. He would have hoped the man would drop by for a visit every now and then, rather than lurking behind the scenes, especially now that he was back from space.

“...Wait, who's this?” Nova's question went unanswered.

Steve's gaze landed on Rogers, and for the first time since meeting him, felt his heart twist.

He couldn't tell him. No matter what Rogers did, if he was already an Avenger, then his old partner had already been the Winter Soldier for decades past.

But if he could tip Rogers off, and—no. He couldn't. They'd just explained why it was a bad idea.

 _Does it matter?_ Something at the back of Steve's mind implored.

It did. Even here. If Bucky hadn't been at this place, at this time, then an entire town would have been kidnapped. Steve imagined a five-year old dropped in the middle of a Hydra base and fought an involuntary shudder. If Bucky hadn't been the Winter Soldier with all the experiences that had given him, would he have been able to prevent that? Steve averted his eyes.

“But more alarmingly, we’ve found a machine. A group of people from this era used the machine to go back to the point in time the Hydra agents are from.”

“Why the _hell_ would he do that instead of just shutting it down?” Sam swore under his breath, which still meant nothing when using comms.

“What do you want us to do?” Thor said. “Send a group in after him?”

“I don't recommend it. He must have wanted us to stay here,” Steve said, Rogers suddenly watching him like a hawk. “That's why we got tipped off in the way we did.”

“Agreed,” Tony said. “Even if we're the good ol' Avengers, we're just the backup, here. Let's not compromise their mission by not trusting them to do their job.”

“But why would they need to go back?” Kamala asked. “Shouldn't they know better?”

“The reason we know not to interfere with the past is because it's happened before, Ms. Marvel. But it doesn't mean everyone has learned their lesson.” Sam had calmed down enough to impart wisdom on his teammate.

Miles whistled low.

“There haven't been any Hydra thrown at us in a while,” Tony tried. “They can't be causing that great a stir.

Which was when several dozen Hydra agents dropped down on them. From the sudden frenzy that broke out over the comms, it was a shared experience.

“Okay, what the _hell_ does that asshole think he's doing? _”_ Sam shouted.

“Now, team leader, this is where the backup makes its entrance!” Tony shouted.

Steve raised his gun and began blasting before the Hydra agents could orient themselves. It did its part to fan the chaos, but the others eventually realized that amongst the blinding greens, the flag-sporting crew and red-and-gold robot were the threats at hand.

Rogers and Tony backed to either side of Steve, forming a triangle between the three of them.

“Your gun is—” Rogers started.

“On stun,” Steve replied, watching from the corner of his eye as Rogers clipped an agent on the chin with his shield.

“Steve, we have to get you out!” Tony said.

“Not right now!” Steve shouted as he downed three agents in three shots.

Despite himself, and the incessant worry over Bucky, Steve was overwhelmed by the old, focused rush of exhilaration. He held back a grin. It had been months since he'd last fought side-by-side with others, and that was back when he was his usual body. And the last time it had been with Tony, just the two of them, would that have been—Madripoor?

“It won't be as entertaining without you,” Tony quoted into their private comm, and then Steve was grinning so hard his cheeks hurt. He squeezed off a few more shots, watching the targets crumble over. The gun still felt like it didn't fit right, but by now Steve knew it never would. No reason to complain when they were being swarmed.

More entertaining with Tony, always, but Steve quickly realized he couldn't watch Tony's back like he normally did. That was what his other self was for. Who, despite not being hooked into their communications network, was holding his own.

Rogers caught his shield, aiming for a split second before hurling it again. Steve shifted, grimacing. Rogers should— would normally—run after it, putting his body to good use. A shield in constant motion on the battlefield.

“You don't need to worry about me!” Steve shouted to Rogers. “Iron Man's got me!”

Rogers didn't turn his head, acknowledging Steve with a small nod. Then he bound off and jump-kicked a Hydra agent in the face.

“You sure about that?” Tony asked. “Your right flank is open now.” He blasted someone away from Steve as he spoke.

“There's a reason I'm support nowadays,” Steve said, clipping an agent in the head. “I'm not meant for ground combat like this. And neither are you. _You're_ more effective from an aerial angle.”

“They're small fry,” Tony replied shortly. “I don't need to push myself or my armor to wipe the floor with them.”

“You shouldn’t handicap yourself by covering me.” Much as he cared for his pride, Steve wasn’t going to compromise the mission. He jerked his chin up. “Here, now, take me up!” 

Tony didn't reply, but he did lower his right arm. Steve stepped close and wrapped his arms firmly around Tony. No more one-armed flying for them, anymore. Tony locked his arm in place around Steve.

“Where do you want me to drop you?” Tony asked. Steve took a moment to respond, light-headed at the speed. They couldn't move slowly, not when he was a ready target up here. Rogers was doing his job of holding their attention, though. Steve found himself entranced by his younger self. He spent most of his time around superpowered heroes, but none of them moved like that.

“Top of that store.” The stucco roof of the restaurant would mean anyone who dropped off there would spend a moment trying to find their footing, giving Steve time to pick them off.

“Gotcha,” Tony said, and as they rose, turned in a semi-circle, shooting off repulsors against more agents. “We're going to have a hell of a time getting all of these Hydra out,” he added.

“If they can come in that fast, they can leave just as well. Not our problem right now.”

Tony deposited Steve neatly on the roof. Steve dropped down as Tony whirled around, the sound of bullets ricocheting off the armor.

“Stay low,” Tony told him. “Don't make yourself a target.”

Just as Steve was about to protest, Tony had flown away.

Steve crouched down again, peering over the edge. The Hydra agents on the ground didn't have the time or focus to aim at him, although there were some very wide shots sent overhead. He had his distraction to thank for that. And what a distraction it was. Rogers punched, kicked, and swung his shield his way out of any crowd that tried to surround him. He was still favoring his left shoulder, but Steve doubted anyone else would have been able to tell. Tony provided aerial cover, weaving in and out effortlessly. Time traveling robot to Hydra, maybe, but brilliance in human form was more impressive to Steve.

So Steve wasn't useful anymore. But they hadn't taken his aim away, even. Natural crack shot, which was all he had going for him when he'd tried to enlist. It had also made it fun for his commanding officers when he'd scrapped his firearms in favor of the shield.

Steve couldn't say he had ever enjoyed doing this as he picked people off. He wanted to feel more in control, more connected. Maybe that was why being the Unity Squad's handler had worked out so well.

The Hydra agents didn't have the freedom to utilize their deadliest weapons due to the friendly fire. When some of them realized the fact and tried to ward each other away from the center of action, Rogers and Tony wouldn't allow them.

A Hydra agent got a lucky shot, veering Rogers's shield off-course with a bullet. Rogers flinched and blocked a punch with his forearm instead of weaving away. Tony zipped down, catching the shield and hurling it back. Rogers hammered the next few people in his path with the shield, until the rest crowded around him a distance away. Tony looked over at Rogers before blasting the Hydra at a distance.

Steve frowned. It would have been easier for Tony to aim his repulsor at Steve's shield, catching them all in the arc. That would have been their next move, if Steve were there in Rogers's place, without any words needing to be exchanged.

But they worked together well, Rogers making up for his lack of experience with instinct. They were fearless and confident in a way they hadn't been when Steve was with there, and the rest of the Hydra agents were disposed of quickly.

Rogers stood in the middle of the street, chest heaving, and wiped an arm across his face. Tony, floating over the scene, looked over in Steve's direction and raised an arm.

“Nothing but small-fry, Steve,” he said over the comms with a laugh. Steve's lips quirked up despite himself.

Tony turned to Steve's counterpart, saying something to which Rogers nodded, and accepted something from Tony. Steve removed the binoculars from his face and stood. From what he could tell, Rogers was stunning the Hydra agents with a stun gun turn-by-turn. Fair enough; it was easier for them to keep them incapacitated for now, especially if more of them popped up.

Then the impossible happened. Rogers was aiming the stunner in the downed Hydra's directions, and the next he doubled over, clutching his shoulder. It was the same shoulder Steve had shot earlier, except this time he'd been hit with an actual bullet.

The unconscious agents were up again, all of them, within the blink of an eye. More gunshots sounded, and while they were harmless against the Iron Man armor, Rogers had crouched down behind his shield, and the men quickly realized who their target should be.

“Avengers!” Steve shouted into his comm. He nearly fell off the ladder on his descent, breaking out into a run. His side ached, and he clasped a hand to it, each step sending painful shocks through it. He was heaving for breath after only a block. The pounding of his feet against the pavement, always so grounding before, had become jarring, but he pushed past it.

He couldn't have kept on watching. It had been difficult enough when they had been in control of the situation, but now, they had been taken off-guard, and one of them was clearly injured.

He took his stunner out of his holster and managed to nail a few of the Hydra agents from behind.

“Steve, what the hell are you—” Tony said, before he repulsored a half-dozen of them. He was fighting defensively, covering Rogers. If Rogers’s shoulder injury hadn't been noticeable before, it clearly was now, and against sheer numbers there was only so much to do. They needed back-up, badly, and Steve knew that he'd made the right choice in being a distraction.

The Hydra agents were noticing Steve now, and as much as Tony could bulldoze through them, they'd locked on their two targets. Which, Steve noted, had begun to narrow down onto one.

“Hold on for a second, Steve,” Tony said, and with a blast, shot up into the air. “And _don't panic.”_

Steve never panicked, but Tony's words nearly did it. Tony had painted a bullseye on his back, and some Hydra agents aimed upwards. Metal pieces flew out in all directions before a loud blast rattled the street, hurtling a loud shock through the air. It was a invisible explosion except how it rippled through the Iron Man armor.

Then Tony plummeted, and Steve felt like he was falling with him.

“ _Tony!”_

“Iron Man!” Rogers shouted, and he bounded over a Hydra agent.

“Iron Man! Tony, status!” No response.

“Captain.” Steve whirled around to Rogers, surveying the street, and realized that he'd been able to hear Rogers's almost-whisper in the midst of everything.

The Hydra agents were gone. The three of them were the only people in the street. And Tony wasn't responding.

“Tony,” Steve said, kneeling down next to the armor. The lights were off. “What did you _do?”_

Maybe it would have been better to yell. Steve didn’t like to yell, but Tony had a knack for wringing them out of him.

“Armor back online.” The wheeze came through the comms.

Steve's hand whipped up to his ear. “Tony!”

“Are you okay?” Rogers asked.

“I'm fine. Just shut down for a minute.” The faceplate slid back, revealing Tony’s face. As flippant as Tony sounded, it was clear his words didn’t match his expression.

Tony hated not being in control of his armor. Considering how it'd been forcefully taken over in the past, it wasn't a difficult fear to understand.

“What happened!?” Steve demanded.

“Like I said, the armor was unresponsive for about a minute.” His face was pale. “A little hiccup. But everything is in working order now.”

“Forget the armor!” Steve snapped, and Tony clasped his hand over his chest, offended. Steve reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder, “are you hurt?”

“As I was telling your counterpart here,” Tony jerked his head. “I'm fine.”

Tony's word didn't necessarily count for much in this scenario. Steve breathed deeply. “Why was the armor taken down?”

Tony grimaced, not responding. “Well, my readings tell me they tried to jam me with chaff earlier.”

“Ultron has taken down by relatively primitive technology. Is there anything in your armor that could have been affected by it?”

Tony shied away from his gaze. “Of course not! What, you think I run on radar? My defenses should hold up against anything in any modern army's arsenal since we started sticking arrowheads onto sticks. I don't know if it's something Hydra has that F.R.I.D.A.Y. wouldn't have, which I would be _appalled_ at, or if it's something to do with this crazy town, or—” Steve watched as he tried to raise his arms in exasperation and fail.

“You're not telling me everything, are you?”

Tony didn't answer.

“Mr. Stark?” Rogers asked, and Tony sighed.

“I don't think there's anything you can do to help, anyway.”

“Fine. Maybe it can't be me,” because when did Tony ever come to Steve for help, anyway, “but maybe someone else can—”

“No, no, they can't help either. Don't look at me like that. You can't _make_ me anymore, you're not even on the te—” Tony cut himself off, looking stricken.

Rogers was glancing between the two of them, brows furrowed. Steve only noticed because he couldn't bear to look at Tony. He couldn't imagine what his own face must have looked like.

Rogers's expression grew blanker, and Steve could understand what people meant about the Cap expression on the surface level. But whatever Rogers did to hide his emotions couldn't work on Steve.

“Shit,” Tony said weakly. The faceplate snapped down.

“Mr. Stark?” Rogers grabbed the armor by the shoulder, and Steve's temper flared, short and hot.

“Tony? Open it up.”

“I—I can't.” Tony's voice was hard but brittle.

“What do you mean you _can't?”_

“The RT is—”

“RT?” Rogers asked, but there was no response. The all too familiar dread was already settling over Steve, and he saw it reflected in Rogers's eyes.

“Tony? Tony!” Steve reached out to shake him, but thought better of it. “Avengers!” he barked into his comm, to no response. His hands curled into fists. “We need to get him out.”

“How?”

“I can.” He couldn't. “You're going to have to do it. I—I don't have his armor override codes, anymore.” The last time he'd used them was back when they'd just started the new Avengers team. The code he had now, the one Tony had given him after he'd woken up, he never wanted to use.

Rogers looked sharply at him, but Steve didn't need his judgment to add to the anguish. “We'll need to use your shield.”

“Okay,” Rogers said.

“Avengers!” Steve called into the comms. There wasn't even static, anymore. How bad had the time anomalies gotten? They hadn't heard a word, and, shit, what were they thinking, _why were there kids here?_

Steve's hand trembled over the catches. Rogers looked on, completely dumbfounded.

“Just wedge it in and go?” he asked, and Steve shook his head. He ran his fingers over the armor, his fingers suddenly too sensitive against the cool metal, until he felt a familiar outline. At least Tony's armor hadn't changed this much.

“Here,” Steve said. “Pull up.”

He supposed Rogers hadn't had to bail Tony out of the armor yet. He wouldn't for years, not until after Tony's identity was known to him and Tony finally confided all of his armor troubles instead of waiting for Rhodes to come get him out.

Rogers stared at the RT, his shield still raised, and Steve felt his panic spike.

“ _Not there!_ ” Steve shouted at Rogers, who jerked back, pulling his hands away.

“Tony,” Steve said, and he reached out himself to place fingers over the RT. It was cold.

Shit, shit, _shit,_ of course anything that could disable the armor would also mean the same for its power source.

“What is that thing?” Rogers said shakily.

“RT,” Steve said tersely. “It powers his heart. And the armor.”

Rogers visibly paled, glancing from the RT to his shield. “Why does he need—a battery for his _heart?_ And _armor?”_

Steve himself still didn't understand the viability of one's own life support also powering their weapons.

“Do you realize how much it takes to charge the armor?” Steve demanded of Rogers.

“I didn't think he was doing it with _his heart_!” Rogers retorted, the lines on his face deep. “How do we undo it?”

“We used Thor's lightning once,” Steve said. His heart was pounding in his ears. This was Tony's field, right? Solving the problem in a split-second of ingenuity.

“Let's save that for a last resort, Captain.” Thor landed with a heavy thud next to them. She swayed a bit on her feet, swearing when she saw Tony’s state.

Rogers was immediately on his feet, shoulders as tense as a bowstring at the Avengers' arrival.

“Oh, fuck,” Sam said. Nova looked from him to Rogers.

Rogers looked from the shield, to Sam, to Thor, to Vision. To the kids, and his expression shut down.

“You could have mentioned who our guest was,” Sam told Steve, who couldn't find it in himself to care.

“You have his armor override code, right?” Steve asked Sam, who frowned.

“Why would I?” Sam asked.

The words grated like sandpaper against Steve’s temper, and he nearly barked his next words. “You're his co-leader. Who else would have it?”

“He gave _you_ one? I assumed he was too much of a control freak to ever give that much up to someone else.”

Steve swayed a bit on his feet. Tony had trusted him with that much, and where did they always end up with each other? He fell to his knees, shifting the armor closer to him.

“Armor override. Steve Rogers. Code 34-44-54-64.”

No response came, and Steve swallowed the lump in his throat. Of course Tony would have updated his codes. Probably only Pepper or Rhodes could open it now. Steve had lost that privilege long ago.

There was a short sputter. “ _Armor systems online_.”

“Armor, open faceplate!”

Steve's heart skipped a beat when he saw Tony's face. “Tony!” Steve felt around his neck, the other man broken out into a cold sweat. But at least he was breathing.

“Let me see him,” Thor said, and Steve was immediately reluctant to let go of Tony. “I do still have my medical training, you know.”

There was an abrupt spasm, and when he'd found the breath, Tony coughed again. Steve was quick to guide his face with his hand so that he was blinking up at him.

Tony turned his face, turning his head off of Steve's lap, and threw up on the ground.

“Ugh,” Tony said, shaking his head and sending droplets of sweat and vomit flying.

“Do you want water?” Thor asked.

Tony shook his head, slumping back onto Steve's lap and closing his eyes.

“That was a crazy stunt you pulled. Made all our comms go out, there,” Sam said.

“But they're back now!” Kamala chimed in.

“But what was it?” Miles asked, crouching down and rubbing at his cowl, like he didn't want anything more than to remove it.

“He closed the rift,” Steve concluded. “Except he needed a power source, and—” Steve's hands were trembling. “He used the easiest option.”

“To be fair, it wasn't supposed to. Do that. With my armor.” Tony spoke up for the first time, eyes still closed. “I'm just going to...pass out for a bit now.”

But that was always a possibility, wasn't it? One that he thought was worth the risk. At some point, Steve had grown more relieved at Tony's safety than angry at his recklessness. Maybe his old age really was getting to him.

“We'll talk about it later. But yes, rest.”

The edges of Tony's lips quirked up before he drifted out of consciousness, and Steve couldn’t resist the urge to run the back of his fingers across his cheeks.

* * *

They were holed up in some counselor's office at the high school. Tony was in the nurse's office, still sleeping. Sam had come to check in on him but had made a quick exit when faced with the prospect of staying around Steve. Steve didn't think he wanted to be in the same room as himself, either. Lucky for him.

Rogers was tugging at the end of the school tassel hung on the wall. He hadn't said much since they’d brought Tony into the school.

So much for keeping him out of the know. Steve could just imagine how his past self wouldn't be able to leave well enough alone when he went back to the past, and had a moment of pity for the past Iron Man.

Or not—maybe if Tony hadn't been so cavalier on his own for so long as Iron Man, he wouldn't pull stunts like he did now.

“You okay?” Steve finally said gruffly.

“Well,” Rogers said. He turned, offering a small smile. “I figure I have to take things as they come. If I get too caught up in all the possibilities, then.” He shrugged. “Long-term has never been my forte. That's how you managed, wasn't it?”

“Is that what you want for yourself? To become me?”

“Well, I'd prefer to jump out of the way of the deserum beam or magic spell.”

“It doesn't only happen once,” Steve warned, at complete contrast to the way his heart warmed.

“No, I don't think there's anything wrong with you. There have definitely been...things...that I've noticed, but I don't think they're so different from myself.” A penchant for pessimism? Considering the only _things_ he could have noticed were between Steve and Tony, Steve reckoned he'd rather his counterpart not elaborate. “But you have a good team, and—” he paused. His eyes darted to the wall behind Steve. His Adam's apple bobbled as it swallowed. If it had been anyone but Steve watching him, they probably wouldn't have noticed Rogers was trying to tell him something out that was very, very difficult to say.

“The future isn't the future for you anymore,” Rogers sighed. “It's your home.”

“...So it is.”

“That's good,” Rogers said, quietly, like he didn't want to admit it. It was easy, now, for Steve to see his past through the tint of nostalgia. But back then, he'd still had to deal with the guilt of losing Bucky, and trying to live in a world that barely needed Captain America, and didn't care about Steve Rogers.

“It gets better,” Steve offered, and the words sounded weak to his own ears.

“Yeah,” Rogers said.

Steve knew his words couldn't mean much, but there was no cure but time for what ailed Rogers.

“Is Iron Man going to be okay?” Rogers asked, voice trailing off.

“He's been through worse,” Steve answered, and Rogers visibly stiffened. “He…he likes to think of it as he comes out better. Stronger. He told me once, he liked to think of it as Iron Man not just being the armor. Forged from hardship.” Did Rogers know about that part of Tony’s past? Had Tony shared the story of his captivity with him, yet?

“Well, I'd prefer these revelations happen without hearts getting stopped,” Rogers muttered, and Steve couldn't disagree.

He looked at a portrait of one of the past principals, an elderly bespectacled woman with sharp eyes. “So, your feelings for Tony.” Steve felt stupid the moment he said it, but that hadn’t stopped the words from coming out.

Rogers flushed. “For Iron Man?”

“You're not exactly subtle about it.”

Rogers glanced at him, growing sober. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn't realize.”

“Nothing to apologize for,” Steve mumbled.

There wasn't any reason to fault him for it. This Steve Rogers was young. There will be so many people for him in his future – Sharon will mean something more, much more than his initial half-delusional fumbling soon, and Rachel, and Bernie, and Connie ( _and no men,_ Steve couldn't help adding). That was only the romantic partners, too. There were so many friendships, brotherhoods that were just in their infancy, or not even begun yet. Steve no longer needed some crush on his teammate to help sustain him and ground himself in the world. Even if he saw parts of himself in the other man, there were so many things that had stayed in his past.

“You learned to tone it down, then?” Rogers interrupted.

“Excuse me?”

“I know things can't stay the same over ten years, so I didn't want to presume.” Rogers shrugged. “But I kept an eye out, and it's not that you're over it. I'll learn how to deal, too.”

“Learn what? Kept an eye out for...what, exactly?” Steve stared at Rogers, who suddenly couldn't meet his eyes.

“I was sure,” said Rogers, eyebrows furrowed, “that you’ still in love with him.”

Steve didn't stop staring.

“I’m not in love with Tony.”

Rogers snorted.

“What, are you saying you are?” Steve snapped.

Rogers huffed. “If that’s how you want to be about it. I suppose that is one thing I have over you then, that I love him more than you.”

“That’s im—” impossible, Steve wanted to finish, before shutting his mouth. But it was, the wrongness of it, of Rogers thinking that whatever he had with Tony was somehow _more_ than what Steve had. It was impossible.

“So—” Rogers wouldn’t back down—“then you’re just lying to yourself.”

Maybe if Steve waited this out long enough, it'd turn out that he'd never had this conversation. It was all in his imagination, was what his mind had concluded. If he kept silent, then the world would arrange itself to match.

“I'm not lying,” Steve said. “Why would I be? Don’t compare your—your mere crush to something like being in love.”

Rogers opened his mouth, then shut it. “Maybe you could call it a crush. Today proved I don’t know him as well as I’d like to. But no matter how young and stupid you think I might be, the truth of it is I could fall for him. And I know I want to. He's Iron Man. He's one of the best people I've ever known. The future is almost unbearable with him, I don't even want to imagine it without him.”

“A lot of things have happened. You wouldn't understand. Tony is...it's not just the Avengers you've known for a decade. We're not always on the same team. We're not on the same team right now.”

“But that doesn't mean you _like_ it that way.”

“Of course I don't!” Steve admitted. “I never did. But that doesn’t just mean I can get things however I like them.” It wasn’t like he could tell Tony, admit to Tony and ask him for something just for the simple factor of _wanting_ it. There had to be something behind it—the Avengers, or a team, or any other excuse that Steve didn’t have anymore.

Because yes, Steve wanted to be on the same team as Tony again. He wanted things to go back to normal, and it's been so long that he didn't know what _normal_ meant anymore. Back at the tower? Back to the mansion?

No, Steve didn't want normal. He just wanted Tony back, and the Avengers back. It had always felt the most right with the two of them.

And that thought rushed over him like a wave, setting the missing puzzle piece into place. It should have been a revelation, rocked his worldview. Without the cloud of emotions blinding him, it was a foregone conclusion.

“Maybe I still love him.” It hurt to admit it, but it was nothing compared to the weight lifted off him at the honesty. Maybe it was the toll on his body of losing the serum, but his mind had decided pride was worth less than it used to.

Tony has been part of his life for so long. The idea of that changing made something twist in Steve's chest.

But it had changed. So much had. Tony wasn't the center of Steve's universe. And Steve never _was_ that important to Tony; he'd always had his company to think about, whether it was an Enterprise or an International or an Industries. Plus the SHRA. And the Illuminati, and the incursions, and Steve’s breath grew short at the thought. It had hurt to fight Tony, so much it scared him to think of just _how much,_ but it hadn't hurt enough that he would rather not have have him.

He didn’t know at what point he decided it was easier to pretend to be out of love, to let his feelings linger as a vague longing to be with him. That was how their friendship had always worked. Even just having Tony's friendship back was more than enough, after everything they'd been through.

Rogers was smiling shyly at him, like he was proud of Steve. How could Steve tell him he shouldn't be? How could he explain the rift that'd grown between him and Tony? It would take years for his counterpart to understand. Steve didn't know if he wanted him to understand. Back then, any disagreement was quickly smoothed over, and Steve had clung to that memory so many times.

He couldn't burden him with that knowledge. Not just his mind, but his heart agreed with that.

Still, Steve folded his hands and rested them against his mouth.

“I miss him,” he confessed.

“I miss mine, too,” Rogers said.

“You’ll be home soon.”

Rogers barked out laughter, but then the smile spread over his face as he took in the meaning. Steve found himself mirroring the same happiness. Steve would have to find his own way home, himself.

* * *

“You ready?” Tony said to Rogers, his voice soft. “As far as the calculations tell us, it'll be painless.”

“Yeah,” Rogers said, hefting his shield higher on his arm. He turned to Steve and they shared a nod before Steve stepped forward to shake his hand.

“By the way,” Rogers muttered. “I gave Tony a vial of my blood. He seemed to think it could help reverse the effects of the deseruming.”

“Oh. Thanks,” Steve had said, awkwardly.

“Tony seemed very invested in getting you the serum back,” Rogers said. He was still whispering, with Tony still fiddling with the makeshift machine in the middle of the high school gym.

“Of course he did,” Steve said stiffly. 

“I mean, he really does care. We know it's not exactly the easiest serum to work with.”

“He's done it before,” Steve blurted. “He looks out for me.”

“Just like you look out for him?”

“Listen. Thank you for the serum. But the rest of this is on me.”

Rogers smiled faintly at Steve's slipped words as Steve carefully schooled his expression into blankness.

“Well,” Rogers continued, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. “No reason for a goodbye. I'll be back where you are, soon enough.”

“Well, it's not quite that simple.” Tony came on over to pull Rogers into a hug. When they’d parted, Tony grinned. “Just the act of coming into the future has irrevocably changed the past, creating a diverging timeline that could be radically different from ours.”

“I got to see _your_ future. That's good enough for me,” Rogers said with a nod. He closed his eyes after Tony gave him a thumbs up. There was a zap, and the spot he stood was empty.

Rogers would probably go back to his own time determined to fall in love with Tony properly, just to prove Steve wrong. It wasn't like it was a hard thing to do. The most difficult part was what to do with feelings for someone that couldn't be returned. Steve had grown up wanting things he never had—he couldn't imagine wanting even more of that for himself.

He hadn't been lying, but the thought of following through with his feelings when he didn't know how Tony would react felt overwhelming.

“You can relax now, Steve, he’s gone. For good, I hope.”

Steve watched Tony, who was looking at where Rogers had been with a wistful smile on his face.

“Now you’re stuck with me,” Steve said.

Tony snapped out of it, his eyes alert as he glanced over at Steve. Steve basked in the fullness of Tony’s attention. Tony laughed. “Yeah, it’s the worst.”

There was a slight rumbling, and both their heads snapped up. There was a loud pop, before the Thunderbolts landed in front of them.

Bucky was cradling a sleeping child in his arms. From the looks of it, she couldn't have been older than ten.

“You asshole,” Sam greeted from behind them. Bucky snorted, shifting her in his arms.

“Her family evacuated without their cat, so she snuck back into town to find him when Hydra started dropping in. Couldn’t just leave her there.”

“Did you know what would have happened if you followed after her?” Sam huffed.

“The possibility was present.”

“You endangered a lot of people with that stunt,” Steve said.

“So I did. That's where you all came in. I knew you could handle it.” He turned around, looking at the Thunderbolts. “We saved the day. We saved the girl. Hmm, I could get used to this.”

“Welcome back, Bucky.” Steve brought him in for a hug.

“Let's go, Thunderbolts,” Bucky said over his shoulder. When they walked by, Steve saw a smile flicker over his face.

“He’s got a point though,” Tony said, after the rest of the two teams had cleared out. “We did good today. We should be proud.”

Steve cleared his throat loudly, and Tony sighed.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Sam is going to chew me out for what I did today, but it worked out, didn’t it?”

“I…you’re right. I’m not in the place to tell you how to act during missions.” That’s Sam’s job now, but from the careful way Tony was looking at him, Steve knew that his word still mattered.

“You could, you know,” Tony tried. “Tell me off. As a friend.”

Steve swallowed past the thickness in his throat and the urge to reach out for Tony.

“Or whatever name you want to put to us,” Tony continued hastily. “Whatever’s fine.”

“Friend isn’t bad.” Steve gave in, resting a hand on crook of Tony’s elbow. For now.”

Tony couldn’t seem to decide on how to react, and Steve smiled.

After a moment, Tony licked his lips before offering a smile in return. He lifted his elbow up, and Steve curled his fingers further around his arm.

“The others should be waiting for us to start the debrief. Shall we?” Tony asked.

“Lead the way,” Steve said and he caught a flash of Tony’s grin as he escorted him out.

**Author's Note:**

> My [twitter](https://twitter.com/magicasen/status/1273410426001215489)!


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